Editing City (section)

=== Utilities ===
[[File:AcueductoSegovia04.JPG|thumb|[[Aqueduct of Segovia]] in Segovia, Spain]]
[[Public utility|Public utilities]] (literally, useful things with general availability) include basic and essential infrastructure networks, chiefly concerned with the supply of water, electricity, and telecommunications capability to the populace.<ref>"public, adj. and n.", ''Oxford English Dictionary'', September 2007.</ref>

[[Sanitation]], necessary for good health in crowded conditions, requires water supply and [[waste management]] as well as individual [[hygiene]]. Urban [[water]] systems include principally a [[water supply network]] and a network ([[Sewerage|sewerage system]]) for [[sewage]] and [[stormwater]]. [[History of water supply and sanitation|Historically]], either local governments or private companies have administered urban [[water supply]], with a tendency toward government water supply in the 20th century and a tendency toward private operation at the turn of the twenty-first.<ref name=Bakker2003 />{{efn|Water resources in rapidly urbanizing areas are not merely ''privatized'' as they are in western countries; since the systems do not exist to begin with, private contracts also entail water [[Water industry|industrialization]] and [[wikt:enclosure|enclosure]].<ref name=Bakker2003 /> Also, there is a countervailing trend: 100 cities have ''re''-municipalized their water supply since the 1990s.<ref>Emanuele Lobina, David Hall, & Vladimir Popov, "List of water remunicipalisations in Asia and worldwide – As of April 2014"; [[Public Services International Research Unit]], University of Greenwich.</ref>}} The market for private water services is dominated by two French companies, [[Veolia Water]] (formerly [[Vivendi]]) and [[Engie]] (formerly [[Suez (company, 1997–2008)|Suez]]), said to hold 70% of all water contracts worldwide.<ref name=Bakker2003>{{cite journal |authorlink=Karen Bakker |first=Karen |last=Bakker |title=Archipelagos and networks: urbanization and water privatization in the South |journal=The Geographical Journal |volume=169 |issue=4 |date=December 2003 |pages=328–341 |doi=10.1111/j.0016-7398.2003.00097.x |bibcode=2003GeogJ.169..328B |quote=The diversity of water supply management systems worldwide—which operate along a continuum between fully public and fully private—bear witness to repeated shifts back and forth between private and public ownership and management of water systems.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Goldman |first=Michael |date=September 2007 |title=How "Water for All!" policy became hegemonic: The power of the World Bank and its transnational policy networks |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222173476 |url-status=live |journal=Geoforum|volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=786–800 |doi=10.1016/j.geoforum.2005.10.008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918020813/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Goldman8/publication/222173476_How_Water_for_All_policy_became_hegemonic_The_power_of_the_World_Bank_and_its_transnational_policy_networks/links/569d1e4408ae03384dd049c5/How-Water-for-All-policy-became-hegemonic-The-power-of-the-World-Bank-and-its-transnational-policy-networks.pdf |archive-date=2017-09-18}}</ref>

Modern urban life relies heavily on the [[energy]] transmitted through [[electricity]] for the operation of [[electric machines]] (from household [[Home appliance|appliances]] to [[outline of industrial machinery|industrial machines]] to now-ubiquitous [[electronics|electronic]] systems used in communications, business, and government) and for [[traffic light]]s, [[street light]]s, and indoor [[lighting]]. Cities rely to a lesser extent on [[hydrocarbon fuel]]s such as [[gasoline]] and [[natural gas]] for transportation, [[heating]], and [[cooking]]. [[Telecommunications]] infrastructure such as [[telephone line]]s and [[coaxial cable]]s also traverse cities, forming dense networks for [[mass communication|mass]] and [[point-to-point (telecommunications)|point-to-point]] communications.{{sfn | Latham | McCormack | McNamara | McNeill | 2009 | pp=169–170}}